Dark Wolf: 1 (Spirit Wild) (19 page)

She flashed him a grin as she sat on the edge of the bed. He loved the way she watched him. Her focus was absolute, but he could sense her mind spinning, coming up with an interpretation of everything he said. Open to him, but unwilling to be led; she thought for herself.

Even her father didn’t intimidate her, and Anton Cheval was not a man to be trifled with. He loved that about her. Admired her strength, the fact her personal integrity appeared to be absolute. There was damned little integrity in his father’s life.

Not nearly enough in his own, but that was going to change.

He shoved his hands in his pants pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Civilized killers? Now that’s an interesting concept. The truth is, my father has a lot of enemies. When you crave power the way he does, people who get in the way get hurt. Not always physically, but he doesn’t have any problem destroying reputations. He’s good at finding ways to control people, and I don’t think he hesitates going outside the law to do it, though I have no proof of that. Right now, he’s got at least half a dozen big guys working for him who look like they’d take your head off without provocation. Two of the men with him this morning caught my attention. One had his right arm in a sling. The other had an ugly slash across his nose and needed a walking cast. Left leg.”

Lily grimaced as she nodded in agreement. “There’s our link. The one I’ve been looking for. I told you I recognized the scent of the wolves that attacked us. They were definitely at the site of that murder in Golden Gate Park. They must be shapeshifters, which means they’re Chanku. No other beings shift naturally, and I can’t imagine your father is powerful enough to change them by magical means. He can’t shift himself, can he?”

“No. He seemed surprised when I shifted.”

“Eve’s not in contact with any others beyond the known members of the pack, though we do know of a set of experiments, using the nutrients to find Chanku in the military, but that was years ago. It was deemed a failure and ended abruptly. We don’t know how many Chanku might have been discovered or where they ended up.”

“Then maybe that’s where we need to start looking. I’m positive my father’s bodyguards are the ones who went after us, and we can tie them to at least one murder scene. You said you’ve got a guy up here working on the Montana cases. Has he picked up any Chanku scent?” Damn, he wanted answers. He wanted all this behind them, because he really wanted Lily.

“Alex’s nose isn’t as good as mine. The difference between wild wolves and Chanku is really subtle, so no, he’s not noticed anything. I did tell him that I recognized the scent from the murder scene when those wolves attacked us, and he said that was the first really good lead. Now that we can link them to your father through his bodyguards, the evidence is even stronger.”

She looked at him with that wonderfully direct gaze of hers. “It’s not looking good for your father. Are you going to be okay with this, even if it results in him going to prison?”

He shook his head. “Absolutely. If he’s guilty of organizing these horrific crimes, he belongs there.” Actually, if Aldo was guilty, Sebastian knew it wouldn’t be easy to keep from killing the man himself. The murders had haunted him for weeks now. He couldn’t imagine what the women’s families were going through.

“Okay.” Lily squeezed his hand. “I just need to be sure. Eve’s checking on the military Chanku to see if there are any in the civilian population. We need to tell her what you’ve discovered and the scent link between the bodyguards and the murders. If your father is working with rogue Chanku, we really need to tell Eve. Tomorrow we’ll visit her on the astral.” She shot him a quick grin. “Without a blood sacrifice—yours or mine.”

“What about tonight?”

She smiled and ran her fingers across the front of his slacks. He’d been aroused all evening, but her touch immediately took him beyond mere arousal, straight to demanding need. She cupped him, holding his testicles through the soft fabric of his jeans, and smiled up at him in all innocence when he groaned.

“I’m exhausted. Tonight I need sleep, a shower, and a man. Not necessarily in that order.”

He struggled for breath. “How about we start with the shower and the man?” Leaning forward, he planted his hands on either side of her hips, caging her within his arms.

She glanced over her shoulder at the door to the bathroom and then tilted her head and looked up at Sebastian. “Works for me, but you’re wearing way too many clothes.”

He reached for the knot on her sarong. “So are you.”

 

Alex followed Annie as she trotted through the dark forest, taking the long way back to Lily’s cottage rather than using the shortcut through the caverns. He felt drunk on feelings, his mind so overwhelmed by Annie, by her love, her trust, her absolute faith in him, that he found it hard to concentrate.

He wanted her. Wanted her as his mate, as his wife, as his partner for all time. They’d linked closely during sex, but he knew it could be more.

Would be more, once they mated as wolves. He’d never felt this way around a woman, this sense of completion, as if the man he wanted to be had finally come into existence because of her.

His parents had said he would know, but they’d always hoped he’d know with Lily. Thank goodness she’d understood even before he had that they weren’t meant to be together. He loved her and would always need her friendship, but something about Annie was just . . . right. Such a simple concept, but so true.

She paused, one foot lifted, ears pricked forward as she gazed at him over her shoulder. They were close to the valley where most of the pack had their homes. Not far from Lily’s, but he knew immediately why Annie had paused.

She’d only been home a few days after so long away. He knew her parents must be worried.
Do you need to let your parents know where you’ll be tonight?

She sat.
Alex?

His heart twisted in his chest, as if it were growing too big to fit. So much emotion, and damn, but he actually loved the feeling, the sense that this was bigger than him.

Bigger than both of them. He’d never imagined himself saying those words, meaning them with every beat of his heart. When he spoke, it wasn’t his conscious mind coming up with the words. It was something more. Something deeper. Something totally beyond his control.
I love you, Annie. I want you for all time. I think I knew as soon as I saw you today. You are so brave, so strong. You are the woman I want as my mate. The one I want to bear my children. To love me, if you can, for all time.

She stared at him as if she’d never seen him before. Almost as if she didn’t know him.
You haven’t seen me for six years. How can you know?

He had no idea, but he knew. There was no doubt in his mind.
I’ve never felt this way. Not this soul-deep certainty that you are mine. That we’re meant to be together. You said you loved me, Annie. Do you?

He’d moved closer to her until their noses touched. Her thoughts blossomed, stronger, even more intimate than before.
It’s hard for me to accept,
she said.
You’ve always been Lily’s.

She was silent for what seemed like a very long time. He didn’t pry, didn’t intrude on her conversation with her parents, but when she turned to him, her beautiful eyes sparkled.

Tinker said that?
Martin McClintock, known to one and all as Tinker, was big and scary and loved by everyone in the pack. He was the one who generally kept the young men in line. A glance from Tinker was usually enough to settle any disagreement.

He’d saved Alex from himself more than once.

You have no idea.
He’d been one of those young men always pushing the edge. There were times he was convinced his own father wanted to strangle him, but Alex had survived his teen years without becoming a statistic—much to everyone’s surprise—and due in part to the mentoring he’d gotten from Annie’s father.

Even more surprising had been his choice as the pack’s liaison to the Flathead County sheriff’s department, but he’d discovered a talent for working with people, for calming situations before they blew out of control.

Right now, he was the one on the edge of control. He wanted Annie now, wanted her as his mate. He didn’t want to wait, but it appeared that she did.

So he’d wait.

Annie turned and raced down the hill toward Lily’s cabin. He loved following her, watching her beautiful tail waving like a flag behind her. He filled his head with her scent, oblivious to everything around him. Only Annie existed. She was beautiful. She was perfect. She was everything he wanted—and she was his.

Without warning, something big and hard hit him from the side. Rolled him off his feet. He cried out a warning to Annie, but she was down with a massive wolf at her throat.

He sent out a cry for help, a cry to the first name that came to mind, even as he twisted frantically, trying to break the grip of the wolf that clamped down with sharp teeth and powerful jaws on the thick fur at his neck.

Lily preened like a cat, sitting on the floor as Sebastian knelt at her back and dried her with a big, fluffy towel. She wondered if she’d ever get enough of him. He’d made love to her in the oversized tub, again as they’d showered to rinse off the soap, and now he was erect again, his cock rising high against his belly. His body was so big and hard and powerful, yet his hands held her and dried her, as gently as if he handled a child.

She tilted her head back and looked at him upside down. His eyes really were teal blue, the color of a tropical lagoon. His irises were ringed in black, his eyes framed in long, thick black lashes. “You have gorgeous eyes.”

“The better to see you with.”

She laughed. “Old, old line. Were your mother’s eyes that color?”

He leaned close and kissed the end of her nose. “No, her eyes were gold, like yours.”

Even better. “Not gold. Amber. I bet she had amber-colored eyes. Typical of Chanku. Most of us have eyes that color.”

He shook his head. “There’s no proof she was Chanku. I know you think I might be, but there was nothing about her that fits any of the descriptions I’ve read. That thing about the libido? As far as I know, she had none. No interest in men. She never dated. I didn’t know she’d actually been married to my father until I found the divorce papers.”

“Did she ever talk about him?”

He shook his head. “No. She was afraid of him. She divorced him before I was born; didn’t tell him she was pregnant. She changed her name and hid from him, kept my birth secret. I grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, a place she figured he’d never look for her. She never told me anything, only that my father was a dangerous man and she wanted to keep me safe. I was Sebastian Roberts, not Xenakis, though she did put his name on the birth certificate. That and the fact he was my father. Everything else was fictitious. My whole life was fiction.”

How sad,
she thought. Her own childhood had been so amazing. Filled with love, with minds totally open and honest to each other. “Was Roberts her real name?”

“No. I think she was Romanian. Her real surname was Lupei. Angela Lupei. I found it in her records. I knew her as Angie Roberts.”

Lupei? That name sounded so familiar. She parted her lips to speak.

Alex’s frantic cry slammed into her mind.

“Something’s after Alex and Annie! C’mon.” Lily shoved to her feet, opened the sliding door to the deck, and shifted the minute she was outside. She could hear growling on the hill above and Annie’s frightened yips. She linked to her dad, but he’d already shifted and was leaping from the far end of the deck even as she hit the thick grass beneath.

Energy around her shifted, and she knew Sebastian had called magic for his wolf and then Tinker came flying out of his house with Annie’s mom Lisa right behind.